InDesign Assets Relinking Guide for Desktop App Core for Mac

When an Adobe InDesign project that contains linked assets is opened from the Egnyte Desktop App Core, the linked files are sometimes reported as missing. This article describes the typical causes of this behavior as well as the macOS and InDesign settings that should be configured so that the linked files can be located reliably.

Overview

InDesign expects each linked asset to be available locally at the path stored inside the project file. When a project is opened from Desktop App Core, the linked assets are streamed on demand, which means they may not yet be present locally at the moment the project is first opened. The linked paths may also reference a different user's home directory, in which case InDesign cannot find the assets and reports them as missing.

Three causes are described below with the settings that should be configured to address each of them.

Cause 1 — Linked Files are Referenced Through Another User's Path

Since Desktop App Core stores files inside the user's home directory, the absolute paths embedded in an InDesign project include the username of the person who originally linked the assets. When the same project is opened by a different user, those paths point to a location that does not exist on the current machine, and InDesign reports the files as missing.

This can be resolved by enabling an InDesign preference that allows the application to relocate linked files using the project's relative path:

1. Open InDesign.
2. Navigate to Preferences → File Handling from the menu bar.
3. Enable the option Find Missing Links Before Opening Document.
4. Close the preferences panel and re-open the InDesign project.

Once this option is enabled, InDesign uses each linked asset's relative path (relative to the project file) to locate the file, regardless of which user originally linked it.

Cause 2 — Linked Files are Not Discovered Automatically

When a project references assets in a folder that has not been browsed recently, Desktop App Core may not yet have populated the local listing for that folder. The assets are therefore not visible to InDesign at the moment the project is opened, and are reported as missing.

This is resolved by granting Desktop App Core the macOS permissions it needs to refresh listings on InDesign's behalf. Two permissions are required.

Full Disk Access

Full Disk Access allows Desktop App Core to run the helper processes that refresh file listings.

1. Navigate to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Full Disk Access.
2. Enable the toggle next to Egnyte.

Automation

Automation permissions allow Desktop App Core to communicate with Adobe applications, retrieve the list of linked assets in the open project, and refresh the listing for the folders that contain those assets.

1. Navigate to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Automation.
2. Expand the entry for Egnyte.
3. Enable all toggles shown under Egnyte, including those for Adobe applications.

After both permissions have been granted, close the InDesign project and re-open it so that the updated permissions take effect.

Cause 3 — Linked Files are Stale or Save Not Yet Been Synced

If a linked asset has been modified or removed since the project was last opened, and has not yet been synced to the current user, the file may be unavailable locally at the moment InDesign tries to load it.

In most cases, the file will become available once Desktop App Core has finished discovering it. If the issue persists, open the folder containing the missing file in Finder so that its listing is refreshed and the file is synced.

Known Limitations

• An InDesign project that is opened immediately after the Mac has woken from sleep may temporarily display some linked files as missing. Desktop App Core may not have finished re-discovering files at that point. The project should be closed and reopened a few moments later, by which time the listing would have been refreshed.